Paddle8

Paddle8
Spring 2013 to Spring 2016

Role
Design Director and Lead Designer

Worked on
Brand Identity
Product (Web & Mobile)
Print & Environmental
Marketing & Advertising

Credits

Head of Product and Design: Adam Dinwiddie

Chief Marketing Officer: Susan Cernek

Designers: Kim Dumo, Georgia McElveen, Shawn Lisle, Stephen Francis

Product Manager: Reshum Panchal

Lifestyle Photography: Kyle Knodell

I recently finished a 3-year engagement with Paddle8. And during this time I was fortunate to play a role and experience its journey from a small startup with 20 employees to a prominent player in the online art and luxury collectibles markets with over 100 employees and offices in New York, Los Angeles and London.

Back in 2011 when Alexander Gilkes, Aditya Julka and Osman Khan started the company, they saw how traditional brick-and-mortar auction houses were struggling to keep up with technology and the massive shift towards online shopping.

They identified a gap in the underserved low to mid-tier art market and created a model that combined the prestige and luxury of the auction house with the ease and efficiency of an e-commerce company. Their vision, to become the premier online collecting destination for art, design and luxury collectibles.

Defining Paddle8’s Brand and Identity

It was clear from the beginning that redefining the art of collecting for the 21st-century consumer required a streamlined business and operational model. But, more so we recognized the importance of having a strong and unique brand that could deeply connect with today’s collectors.

Knowing that people see their collections as part of their lifestyle and identity, Paddle8 provides them with a curated experience, where they can find the world’s treasures under one roof, while inspiring them through tasteful content.

These have been the guiding principles for the company and my process since day one. Back in 2013, I was brought in as their first full-time designer to work closely with the co-founders and the head of product and design (Adam Dinwiddie) to build a great design team that could help make Paddle8’s vision a reality.

One of the first big projects I worked on was rethinking the identity. At the time, as we were redesigning the website, we realized that the direction we were taking wasn’t in line with the original identity. After many conversations and explorations, it was quite clear that the brand needed a bigger change.

The new identity was a reflection of Paddle8’s core values of trust and taste. A simple, elegant and timeless system that embodied the company’s outlook on collecting while making the offered items the center of attention. We employed strategic design elements and a thorough understanding of the modern collector to streamline the consumer journey while maintaining an aura of aspiration and luxury.

An Engaging Consumer Journey

There are many ways consumers engage with Paddle8 — Web and mobile platforms, brand/personality partnerships, nonprofit partners and their events or through advertising. In order to ensure we engaged at every touch point, we mapped our consumer journey to ensure a coherent and consistent experience that could become a unique signature for Paddle8.

Digital Experience

Being an e-commerce platform, we spent most of our time continuously improving the experience — both for consumers who are new to Paddle8 and collecting, as well as seasoned collectors.

Intuition and a constant dialogue between teams have played a key role in designing these experiences. But as the company (and our design team) scaled, we begun to put more structured processes in place to facilitate rapid iteration, testing and better results. And while these are important steps, I am personally a big believer of intangibles, such as intuition and empathy to help us create truly relevant and delightful interactions for each user.

Doing Philanthropy Well

One of the reasons I decided to join Paddle8 was its commitment to making a difference by supporting non-profit organizations and cultural institutions.

Traditionally, as part of their fundraising efforts, nonprofits would host events with a silent auction of works donated by artists. Paddle8 saw an opportunity to scale up their efforts by bringing their auctions to our platform and opening them up to our worldwide community of collectors.

It is a win-win situation as organizations see an exponential increase in the amount of funds raised and collectors have an opportunity to do good by supporting them, while adding to their collection. This partnership has also helped Paddle8 create brand awareness and grow its collector community.

Marketing and Advertising

Marketing plays a huge role in communicating Paddle8’s story and what it stands for throughout the collector’s journey. This manifests itself in different ways:

• Through print and online advertising to reinforce its position in known markets, as well as accessing new ones

• Through partnerships with celebrated cultural institutions and international tastemakers

• Through rich and engaging editorial content that highlights the collecting lifestyle and the value of what Paddle8 sells

• Throughout all of these touch points, design and marketing are actively collaborating to ensure that it lives up to its promise

Creating an Internal Design Culture

As the company continues to grow (over 100) and expand into other continents, it was key to create an internal culture that valued design and understood the importance of providing the same experience collectors have come to expect from Paddle8 across all touch points.

Paddle8

Owner

Paddle8

Identity and applications across all touch points for Paddle8, the premier online collecting destination.

Creative Fields